This invention pertains to air purifiers and, more particularly, to ionizers.
Over the years, many types of air purifiers and dedusters have been provided to purify and dedust air. Ionizers are particularly helpful. An ionizer is a device which emits electrically charged ions that clean impurities from the air and provides a feeling of well being to the user. Where possible, the ionizer should accomplish its purpose without creating an amount of ozone which is harmful, to people, pets, and plants. One particularly useful type of prior art ionizer is described in Reissue U.S. Pat. Re. No. 34,346, reissued Aug. 17, 1993, in which one of the coinventors, Ronald O. Hilger is a coinventor of the subject patent application.
Conventional prior art ionizers typically have sharp needles or pointed wires which emit electrons (ions) produced by high voltage pulses to ionize the air. The sharp needles and pointed wires can puncture and severely cut the hand of a consumer or installer.
Conventional prior art ionizers also typically have internal or external collector pads which collects and accumulates ionized particles. As a result, conventional prior art ionizers and their surroundings, including walls, drapes and furniture, often get covered with ugly blotches of soot, debris and dirt formed by the collected black ionized particles, dust and agglomerated fine carbon particulates.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide improved ionizers which overcome most, if not all, of the above problems.